A seed blogger announced on China's Twitter-like social platform Sina Weibo on Saturday that he planted a high-quality watermelon variety from the early 20th century, which turned out to be not as delicious as watermelons of nowadays and was disliked even by pigs. Photo: A photo posted by the blogger on Sina Weibo

A seed blogger announced on China's Twitter-like social platform Sina Weibo on Saturday that he planted a high-quality watermelon variety from the early 20th century, which turned out to be not as delicious as watermelons of nowadays and was disliked even by pigs.

The watermelon, Stone Mountain, was introduced in 1923 by Hastings Seed Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and went on to become one of the top commercial melons of the 1930s and 1940s. But now it's almost extinct due to mass production and hybrids.

The blogger bought some seeds from seed collector Rodger Winn and planted in his farm. The heaviest melon he has grown weighs nearly 30 kilograms, of which the melon skin weighs about 20 kilograms. 

"The aroma of watermelon is very strong, but the meat is very thick with many fibers, and not that sweet," the blogger said.

"I took two bites and threw the rest to the pigs, but they didn't eat them," said the blogger.

But some other netizens questioned the authority of his experiment, saying that in some paintings of the 19th century, there were already watermelon with thin watermelon rinds and looked juicy and delicious. 

Sina Weibo